The Daughter They Abandoned Is The Doctor They Can’t Reach Chapter 16
I answered.
My mother launched straight in. “Why would you say things like that in an interview? Now everyone thinks we never supported you at all, like we’re some horrible, abusive parents!”
“I told the truth.”
“But people will misunderstand!”
“That’s their interpretation.”
She took a deep breath and softened her tone. “We didn’t pay your application fees because we wanted to build your independence. You’ve always been capable. We believed you could handle it.”
“So I should thank you for making me work to pay my own application fees?”
The line went still.
I kept going. “When I left for Durham, it took you four days to ask the neighborhood where I’d gone. Was that also to build my independence?”
She went completely silent.
A few seconds later, my mother started crying.
“Nora, do you really have to be like this? Your mother misses you.”
Misses me.
A daughter with a full scholarship. A daughter in the news. A daughter who had brought pride to the family. *Now* she missed me.
If I hadn’t won the scholarship—if I were just at some community college—would she still miss me?
“No matter what,” she said, sniffing, “your father and I are coming to your awards ceremony.”
“My two guest tickets are already taken.”
“What?”
“I submitted the names to the university already. They can’t be changed.”
I ended the call and pushed open the lab door.
Eli looked up and waved me over. Our faculty mentor handed me a new stack of data.
No one asked about the phone call.
Here, I had a place.
And I had real work to do.